A/N I want to thank everyone who has read this story and those who may read it in the future! I also want to thank in advance anyone who may leave a review. It was an enjoyable story to write.

See disclaimers in ch 1

Words between ~ ~ are thoughts or mental speak

CH 17

"Well what's the verdict, Blue. Am I gonna live or what?" Logan was impatient, as the good doctor continued his tests. It had been a few days since the rescue and he desperately wanted to be done with the tests so he could focus on his lover.

"Ah, Logan. All things to nothingness descend." Hank rolled his stool over to collect a pipette from a nearby drawer and rolled back, shoving it into a vial to obtain a few drops of liquid. "Grow old and die and meet their end." He released the droplets into a second vial of green fluid. "Man dies, iron rusts, wood goes decayed," He then sucked some clear solution from a glass cylinder to drop into the vial of green fluid. "Towers fall, walls crumble, roses fade." The green fluid turned orange and started bubbling. "Nor long shall any name resound beyond the grave unless be found in some clerk's book." After a few moments, the bubbling ceased and the liquid slowly turned clear. Beast smiled at the results of his experiment before turning his full attention to the feral man at his left. "Tis the pen gives immortality to men. Master Wace."

Logan rubbed one big hand down the front of his face in pure frustration. He stared longingly at the refrigerator in Hank's lab, thinking of the beer he had hidden in there a few weeks back when Jubilee got it in her head to save his soul or health or some shit like that. She had learned of the dangers of drink in one of her classes and had taken it upon herself to rid the entire mansion of the vile toxins. What the hell were they teaching kids in schools these days? It wasn't like he was alcoholic. And his nerves were frayed at the moment. He was definitely going to need a drink or six if he was pushed any further. The last thing he needed to do was gut the X-family physician with two sets of adamantium claws.

"What the HELL does that mean?" Logan took a deep breath to calm himself, ready to do bodily harm to the next person crossing his path the wrong way.

It didn't take the genius that Hank was to recognize the edge of berserker mode in the resident feral. Not feeling up to becoming shish kabob, he wisely decided to cease with quoting eloquent prose from obscure authors. "It means you will die one day, just not today. The drug is completely out of your system. What's more, your system has now developed immunity to the serum and it is not as likely to have the same paralyzing and debilitating effect as it originally did." McCoy adjusted his glasses, pushing them back onto the bridge of his nose before continuing. "The drug they developed was quite fascinating, actually. I must applaud their efforts. You see, the chemical compounds attacked your cells from two directions. The first wave effectively counteracted the…." he immediately halted discussions at the steadily increasing growl emanating from the wild mutant standing next to him. The good doctor swallowed hard and turned back to his workstation. "Of course, I understand that is rather irrelevant to you."

Logan sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Blue. Ya know that don't mean shit to me. I just want to know if it's out of my system yet or not." He turned to look at one of the monitors above the doctor's head. "How long are ya going to keep him sedated?"

It was Hank's turn to sigh as he turned a thoughtful face towards the same monitor. They observed the sleeping Cajun in silence for a few moments before McCoy spoke again. "I know you don't like seeing him this way, Logan, but it's for the best. His body needs time to recover. I don't need to run down the list of injuries with you, but needless to say the gunshot wound exacerbated the situation. We fought hard just to get that fever down. The blood loss was dangerous. With his unique genetic makeup, the fact that no one except you can be a donor which of course was out of the question this time, I was thankful we had some of his own donations on hand. Once this is over, I can fully expect you to continue your ritual of forcing him down here for periodic bleedings?"

Hank smiled at the memories of the constant struggles they have in getting the Cajun to step foot in the medical bay. "He's out of the woods, if you'll pardon the pun, but he still needs to recuperate. With his inability to maintain shields at the moment, keeping him under will insure that he is able to rest without the added emotional trauma his empathy would invoke."

The frown returned in full force to the older feral's face. He turned his back to Beast and placed both hands on his hips. "There's something I need to tell ya, Blue, 'bout me and Remy." The chuckle he heard coming from the blue-furred mutant was unexpected and made him turn on his heel to cock his head in confusion.

"No need to bare your soul, my friend. We are very much aware of the something between you and our resident thief. And we couldn't be happier for you."

Logan felt like a cat torn between the desire to be left alone and the need to continue receiving a pleasurable ear rub, not sure whether to purr or be pissed. On the one hand, he was angry at the fact that they had been trying so hard to keep everything a secret for Remy's sake. Yet on the other, he was relieved to know that the secret was already out. He finally decided not to think about it now, or ever. It really didn't matter any more, he supposed. It's not like he gave a damn what they thought anyway.

McCoy could see the warring emotions in his team mate's eyes and slowly approached him to lay a hand on his shoulder. "You know, Logan, the bed I put Gambit in is big enough to accommodate the size and weight of Colossus or myself. I'm sure it would be more than adequate if you wish to keep him company."

Logan looked up at the smiling, understanding face of the good doctor and placed his hand on top of the one covering his shoulder. "Thanks, Blue." With that, he headed out of the office, pausing for a moment to turn back and nod appreciatively. McCoy sighed and reached up to turn off the monitor, a smirk firmly in place. He didn't need a visual to keep track of the Cajun's vitals.

Logan moved towards the bed of the sleeping form he considered the most important person in his life and pulled the covers back to carefully crawl beside the prone figure. Propping up on one elbow, he stared down at the angelic face, moving his hand to brush back stray auburn locks, careful not to disturb leading wires. Remy may be out of it at the moment, but Logan recalled how he could hear every word the boy said to him in that cave and decided to return the favor.

"Blue says yer gonna be fine boy. Ya just need to catch up on some rest, then we'll try that vacation thing again. Only this time, we'll go where you want to go." Logan leaned down and brushed his lips against the parted ones of his lover. "Ya know when I told ya I didn't have any heroes before? Well, I was wrong. Yer my hero, boy. No, not a boy. Yer a man, Remy. As good and decent a man as there ever was. I don't deserve someone like ya in my life, but I'm damn proud that ya consider me worthy. And, I gonna do everything in my power to make sure ya never regret being with me."

Logan rubbed his knuckles gently down the side of Remy's face. He knew what he wanted to say to his partner and realized there were no words more perfect than the ones his lover had used a few days before. "Je t'aime gros, Remy. Always have, always will."

Remy was swimming peacefully in a black void, with nothing to disturb the quiet solitude. Suddenly, there was a glow around him, a warming flow of love caressing his soul. Despite his drug-induced unconsciousness, Remy's body couldn't help but respond to the feelings. If it had been anyone other than Logan, it would have been missed. But, Logan's keen sight caught it - a slight curling upwards at the edges of Remy's lips, giving him the most beautiful look of pure happiness.

Logan couldn't help but smile back at his sleeping angel as he lowered himself down, placed a possessive arm around his boy's waist, and joined him in peaceful slumber.

And somewhere in the back of Logan's mind, he knew that everything would be fine.

The End.

Translations of some Cajun words used in fic:

Je t'aime gros - I love you very much

Salaud - bastard

Couillon - idiot, fool

Beb – sweetheart, darling

Qui – what

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